As Mr. Baskin details, the CFTC is concerned that rampant speculation causes price inflation. That means higher prices for end consumers. The CFTC’s goal is not to eliminate ETFs. Its goal is to protect main street consumers, and for that reason it is to be applauded. Finally, a Federal regulatory commission out front (not after the fact) protecting main street from predatory, unsound fiscal practices and another bubble that when it bursts–and it will burst–main street pays the freight.
About time.
Monthly Archives: August 2009
The Gretchen Morgenson — Very, Very Smart Award
Posted in Consumer Protection, Person of the WeekThanks Gretchen, good column as always – but I sense an undertone of panic and fear; a siren signaling a second crisis in the financial sector. With all due respect to Ms. Morgenson, it’s not time to panic just yet. To be sure, it is difficult not to doubt everything financial, from soaring bank stocks to the dollar bill with which I buy my Snickers (yes a Snickers). But we’re seeing plenty of signs of stability and the markets (all of them) seem to be better patrolled by the Feds. Greed and profit taking will always be there it just needs to be maintained at a moderate level – and not get silly. To ensure that doesn’t happen, we have the regulators and enforcers. With subpoena power and the threat of jail time (how many hundreds of years did Madoff get?), stepped up enforcement can moderate the rampant speculation and greed to function efficiently as a lubricant to the markets like oil in a car and not sparks in a dry forest. So let those bank stocks soar for awhile on greed and speculation. They will come back down to earth. In the meantime, a little speculation is good for the sector.
Francis DiPascali: Madoff’s Main Man?
Posted in In the CourtsThere was news earlier this week of Madoff Lieutenant Frank DiPascali’s expansive guilty plea (to 10 felony counts). This broad plea accompanied by loud hints of expansive cooperation with the federal government raises the question of whether Mr. DiPascali was Madoff’s main man; his aide de camp, his Tonto, his Robin, his Hutch, his Watson or his Sundance Kid.
Person of the Week: the Honorable Jed Rakoff
Posted in Person of the WeekJudge Rakoff of the Southern District of New York is our Person of the Week. Why? Because he wouldn’t rubber stamp a deal between the SEC and Bank of America, which allowed BofA to sweep under the rug its use of taxpayer money (from “Uncle Sam”) to pay $3.6 billion in bonuses to Merrill employees.
Superfast High-Speed Trading: Wall Street’s New Instrument of Greed
Posted in Consumer ProtectionDisturbingly, the same financial institutions we spent billions of dollars to save from bankruptcy mere months ago are victimizing taxpayers yet again. We can thank Krugman and Schapiro for directing attention to these practices, and the next step is to intervene. Main street has borne enough of the burden caused by the me-first, profit-seeking attitudes of these companies. Identifying and eliminating unfair stock market practices is an essential step toward fairness.
The President of the Indoor Tanning Association Defends the Indefensible
Posted in Consumer ProtectionWith this logic, if the Association represented surgeons, they would have us amputating arms to fix broken fingers. The ITA “give[s] you the other side of the story” all right. Rather than merely spending more time outside in mild sunlight or taking Vitamin D supplements, the ITA would have you risk melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. If that’s the other side of the story, I think I’ll stick to this side.